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Old February 16, 2008, 09:05 PM   #1
clayking
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One of those days on the reloading bench.......

Some days are great, some, like today, not so good..........

But as a prevue to my reloading story, my fridge's ice dispenser turned itself on the night before and emptied the entire ice bucket onto the kitchen floor and continued to run and burnt out the motor nearly catching on fire. My wife had gone to bed and I was in the back of the house and never heard it. And since the fridge was 20 years old I had to spend two grand replacing it this morning. But I digress from my reloading episode.

I start off today to load for about 3 hours or so prior to my college's basketball game on Espn. First off I start by lubing my brass to toss into the casefeeder/ As I'm jiggling the brass in a box and walking around my garage I trip and in the motion to catch myself from falling drop the brass which goes all over the garage. At least 150 pieces or so......I'm sure I will be finding some of it for months to come. 30 minutes wasted.

So I finally get everything hooked up and started to reload. I quickly loaded a hundred, reload another tube of primers and after about 6 more pulls it doesn't feel right............. sure enough the primers were not advancing. So I take off the shell plate and then the primer tray to discover that a primer had turned sideways and was stopping the tray's advance. I remove the primer causing the problem and start to put all back together. I take my cleaning toothbrush to clean the shell plate and accidentally hit the index ball throwing it down into the hole for the shell plate bolt.

I just stare in disgust and proudly use the F word for a minute or two. I'm thinking that I've got to take the entire reloader off of the bench to turn it upside down to get it out. But then decided that maybe I can get it out with something sticky. Gum, no that would only guarantee a bigger mess. So I put some tape on the end of a pencil and after about a dozen tries finally get it out. 30 minutes wasted.

So back together and back to reloading once again. Everything's going fine until out of the corner of my eye I see a motion and look over. And there crawling across floor underneath my reloading bench is a snake. I had the garage doors open and I do live in Florida where critters of all sorts stay active year round. It was only a black snake which are not harmful but nonetheless not wanted. I get the broom out and try to get the little two footer or so out. He keeps going under stuff, behind stuff etc. etc (I really to clean out the garage a bit) and after chasing him from cover to cover finally get him out.............30 minutes wasted.

Back to reloading. I finally polish off my second 100 rounds, far short of my intended goal, and call it quits to go watch the basketball game. I decide to make a drink to watch the game, but alas, no fridge yet and no ice so I drive up the the convenience store to get a bag of ice. I go in, get the ice, come out only to be greeted with a flat tire. Change the tire........another 30 minutes wasted.

I go home, make a drink, and sit down to watch the game. I've missed the entire first half and have tuned in just as the second half starts. About halfway through the half, game tied, my 85 year old widowed neighbor calls with a water emergency. Her hot water heater is leaking and she doesn't know how to turn off the water. So I go over and get her fixed up and help clean up the water mess.........30 minutes wasted.

I go back home. The game is ending................6 hours, 200 rounds loaded.....boy, these progressives save a lot time.................ck

Oh, at least my team won
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Old February 16, 2008, 09:24 PM   #2
Doublestack
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Sounds like only one small problem with the progressive press, and that was the sideways primer.
Everything else you could chalk up to one of those days that you just shoulda stayed in bed!

You made me laugh out loud when you said that the indexing ball bearing went down the shell plate bolt hole! Now if you said that the snake ate the ball bearing and disappeared into a crack in the cement, I would have been rolling on the floor! I am assuming you are using a Dillon 650 right? Look at the bright side, tomorrow HAS to be better!

DS
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Old February 16, 2008, 11:06 PM   #3
clayking
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Oh, yea, the 650. Yep, other than the primer it was all the jillion other incidents firing on all cylinders, hopefully, the day will end without further incident, an hour to go.....................ck
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Old February 17, 2008, 12:02 AM   #4
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Sounds like one of those days that you would like to soon forget. I try not load on those days, but things do happen.
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Old February 17, 2008, 09:03 AM   #5
Sevens
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Okay, on the good side-- you did a great thing by helping out the neighbor lady. How you cleaned up a leaking hot water heater in only a half hour is amazing. (I'm sure these are estimates!)

On the bad side, you are a great reloader but horrible at buying appliances. Two grand for a fridge? There's got to be a better way!

My final comment: There is nothing better on earth, NOTHING BETTER-- than TiVo. Some people balk at using TiVo for a live sporting event but they are nuts. I can sit down to watch my hockey team an hour after it starts and finish watching it live just by skipping commercials and intermissions.

Next to the personal home computer, there's never, ever been a better consumer electronics product than the TiVo. Straight from God to my television.

The lubed rifle brass on the garage floor must have been an awful mess. All the gunk and crap each lubed case would pick up? Nasty.
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Old February 17, 2008, 10:06 AM   #6
clayking
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Quote:
Okay, on the good side-- you did a great thing by helping out the neighbor lady. How you cleaned up a leaking hot water heater in only a half hour is amazing. (I'm sure these are estimates!)
First off, it was in her garage so not such a big deal. I just shut her water off, turned off the heater, and hooked a hose up and drained the tank of what was left. Then broomed out the door what water there was. Yea, might have been a little over that 30 minutes.

Quote:
On the bad side, you are a great reloader but horrible at buying appliances. Two grand for a fridge? There's got to be a better way!
Yea, I thought that I was going to get away for a lot less than that, until I started comparing all the models, and of course, the wife got her way. To tell the truth, the one I wanted was over 3 grand. These top end side-by-sides are getting up there in cost, stainless no less.

Quote:
There is nothing better on earth, NOTHING BETTER-- than TiVo.
I've considered tivo, since I don't watch that much tv, I don't care. My wife would like it as she has about 3 VCR's taping all the time. That's her problem, not mine. Beside's, my game will be on a replay sometime this week if I really want to watch it.

Quote:
The lubed rifle brass on the garage floor must have been an awful mess. All the gunk and crap each lubed case would pick up? Nasty.
It was pistol brass with one shot. Not really messy at all.....................ck
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Old February 17, 2008, 10:31 AM   #7
45Dave
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one of those days

Well Clay, couple points for the bright side, your kitchen floor is nice and clean, you may get some good cooking from your neighbor and you were not going to blow up any stumps that day. Handling explosives on one of those days could set you back in a big way.
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Old February 17, 2008, 11:22 AM   #8
Doublestack
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Quote:
Handling explosives on one of those days could set you back in a big way.
GOOD POINT!

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